Ikrame Naciri
Biography
Ikrame Naciri, Ph.D., is an Assistant Project Scientist in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. Dr. Naciri received her Ph.D. in Oncogenesis from the University Paris Diderot in 2018, where her doctoral research focused on epigenetics, signaling, and cancer, with a particular emphasis on cancer/testis gene regulation. She conducted genetic screens that uncovered mechanisms controlling the transcriptional regulation of cancer/testis genes in normal cells and tumors.
During her postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Dr. Sha Sun at UCI, Dr. Naciri demonstrated that loss of the XIST long non-coding RNA promotes stemness and cellular plasticity in ovarian cancer. This work was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) in 2024, where she served as co-corresponding author. Her research has further revealed that XIST loss induces distinct transcriptional responses depending on cellular context and has contributed to understanding chromosome silencing mechanisms using autosomally integrated transgenes.
Dr. Naciri is currently an Assistant Project Scientist in the laboratory of Dr. Suzann Duan. Her research focuses on understanding cancer cell plasticity in gynecologic cancers using established cell lines, patient-derived organoid models, and spatial transcriptomics. Her goal is to identify novel therapeutic strategies and biomarkers to improve patient outcomes.
Dr. Naciri received the Dean's Early Career Research Excellence Award from the UCI School of Biological Sciences in 2024 and was awarded an Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance (OCRA) Mentored Investigator Grant for 2026–2028. She has mentored undergraduate and master's students and has completed certification programs in course design and effective mentoring.
Return to topEducation
- Two-year technical degree in Biological Analysis: Hematology, Microbiology, Biochemistry, Immunology, Cachan, France, 2008
- Bachelor's Degree in Biotechnology, University Paris Sud 11, 2010
- Master's Degree in Biology and Cellular Development, University Paris Descartes, 2014
- Ph.D. in Oncogenesis, University Paris Diderot, 2018
Distinctions
- Dean's Early Career Research Excellence Award, University of California, Irvine School of Biological Sciences, 2024
Areas of Expertise
- Cancer Epigenetics
- Cellular Plasticity in Tumors
- Ovarian Cancer Stemness
Recent Publications
- Duan S, Leigh B A, Zinkeng A, Naciri I, Moore J, Gentry R, Sontz R, Ayabe R, Tapia E, Sawyer T, Merchant J, “Hedgehog signaling drives glial cell plasticity and oncogenic reprogramming in gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms” (opens in new tab), Molecular Cancer, vol. 25, pp. 85, 2026.
- Cheng D, Naciri I, Wu J, Sun S, “XIST loss induces variable transcriptional responses dependent on cell states” (opens in new tab), Non-Coding RNA, vol. 11, pp. 67, 2025.
- Naciri I, Liang M, Yang Y, Karner H, Lin B, Andrade Ludena MD, Hanse E, Lebron A, Razorenova O, Nicholas D, Kong M, Sun S, “Loss of XIST lncRNA unlocks stemness and cellular plasticity in ovarian cancer” (opens in new tab), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 121, pp. e2418096121, 2024.
- Naciri I, Andrade-Ludena MD, Yang Y, Kong M, Sun S, “An emerging link between lncRNAs and cancer sex dimorphism” (opens in new tab), Human Genetics, vol. 143, pp. 831-842, 2023.
- Defossez P-A, Kirsh O, Naciri I, “ÉPIGÉNÉTIQUE” (opens in new tab), Encyclopædia Universalis, 2023.
- Naciri I, Lin B, Webb C-H, Jiang S, Carmona S, Liu W, Mortazavi A, Sun S, “Linking chromosomal silencing with Xist expression from autosomal integrated transgenes” (opens in new tab), Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, vol. 9, pp. 693154, 2021.
- Naciri I, Laisne M, Ferry L, Bourmaud M, Gupta N, Di Carlo S, Huna A, Martine N, Peduto L, Bernard D, Kirsh O, Defossez P-A, “Genetic screens reveal mechanisms for the transcriptional regulation of Cancer/Testis genes in normal cells and tumors”, Nucleic Acids Res, vol. 47, no. 7, pp. 3407-3421, 2019.
- Gobé C, Elzaiat M, Meunier N, André M, Sellem E, Congar P, Jouneau L, Allias-Bonnet A, Naciri I, Passet B, Pailhoux E, Pannetier M, “Dmxl2 is involved in olfactory information transmission and efficiency of the first wave of spermatogenesis”, PLoS Genet, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. e1007909, 2019.
- Roussel-Gervais A, Naciri I, Kirsh O, Kasprzyk O, Velasco G, Grillo G, Dubus P, Defossez P.A, “Loss of the methyl-CpG binding protein ZBTB4 alters the mitotic checkpoint, increases aneuploidy, and promotes tumorigenesis”, Cancer Res, vol. 77, no. 1, pp. 62-73, 2017.
- Naciri I, Roussel-Gervais A, Defossez P.A, Kirsh O, “Unexpected roles for a methyl-binding protein in cancer”, medicine/sciences, vol. 33, no. 8-9, 2017.
- Floch AG, Tareste D, Fuchs PF, Chadrin A, Naciri I, Léger T, Schlenstedt G, Palancade B, Doye V, “Nuclear pore targeting of the yeast Pom33 nucleoporin depends on karyopherin and lipid binding”, J Cell Sci, vol. 128, no. 2, pp. 305-316, 2015.
Contact Information
Email: inaciri@uci.edu
Phone: (949) 824-9684
Address: 2302 Natural Sciences I
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Last updated on 6/11/2026.